This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended, regarding management’s beliefs, estimates, projections and
assumptions with respect to, among other things, the Company’s financial
results, future operations, business plans and investment strategies, as
well as industry and market conditions, all of which are subject to
change. Words like “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “promise,” “plan,”
and other expressions or words of similar meanings, as well as future or
conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” or “may”
are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual
results and operations for any future period may vary materially from
those projected herein and from past results discussed herein. Factors
which could cause actual results to differ materially from historical
results or those anticipated include, but are not limited to: changes in
the Company’s investment objectives or investment or operational
strategies, including any new lines of business or new products and
services that may subject it to additional risks; the occurrence of
natural disasters or other events or circumstances that could impact the
Company’s operations; volatility in the Company’s industry, the debt or
equity markets, the general economy or the real estate finance and real
estate markets specifically, whether the result of market events or
otherwise; events or circumstances which undermine confidence in the
financial markets or otherwise have a broad impact on financial markets,
such as the sudden instability or collapse of large depository
institutions or other significant corporations, terrorist attacks,
natural or man-made disasters, or threatened or actual armed conflicts;
changes in general business, economic, market, employment and political
conditions, or in consumer confidence and spending habits from those
expected; declines in real estate or significant changes in U.S. housing
prices or activity in the U.S. housing market; the availability of, and
level of competition for, attractive risk-adjusted investment
opportunities in mortgage loans and mortgage-related assets that satisfy
the Company’s investment objectives; the inherent difficulty in winning
bids to acquire mortgage loans, and the Company’s success in doing so;
the concentration of credit risks to which the Company is exposed; the
degree and nature of the Company’s competition; the Company’s dependence
on its manager and servicer, potential conflicts of interest with such
entities and their affiliates, and the performance of such entities;
changes in personnel and lack of availability of qualified personnel at
its manager, servicer or their affiliates; the availability, terms and
deployment of short-term and long-term capital; the adequacy of the
Company’s cash reserves and working capital; the Company’s ability to
maintain the desired relationship between its financing and the interest
rates and maturities of its assets; the timing and amount of cash flows,
if any, from the Company’s investments; unanticipated increases or
volatility in financing and other costs, including a rise in interest
rates; the performance, financial condition and liquidity of borrowers;
the ability of the Company’s servicer, which also provides the Company
with fulfillment services, to approve and monitor correspondent sellers
and underwrite loans to investor standards; incomplete or inaccurate
information or documentation provided by customers or counterparties, or
adverse changes in the financial condition of the Company’s customers
and counterparties; the Company’s indemnification and repurchase
obligations in connection with mortgage loans it purchases and later
sells or securitizes; the quality and enforceability of the collateral
documentation evidencing the Company’s ownership and rights in the
assets in which it invests; increased rates of delinquency, default
and/or decreased recovery rates on the Company’s investments; the
performance of mortgage loans underlying mortgage-backed securities in
which the Company retains credit risk; the Company’s ability to
foreclose on its investments in a timely manner or at all; increased
prepayments of the mortgages and other loans underlying the Company’s
mortgage-backed securities or relating to the Company’s mortgage
servicing rights, excess servicing spread and other investments; the
degree to which the Company’s hedging strategies may or may not protect
it from interest rate volatility; the effect of the accuracy of or
changes in the estimates the Company makes about uncertainties,
contingencies and asset and liability valuations when measuring and
reporting upon the Company’s financial condition and results of
operations; the Company’s failure to maintain appropriate internal
control over financial reporting; technologies for loans and the
Company’s ability to mitigate security risks and cyber intrusions; the
Company’s ability to obtain and/or maintain licenses and other approvals
in those jurisdictions where required to conduct its business; the
Company’s ability to detect misconduct and fraud; the Company’s ability
to comply with various federal, state and local laws and regulations
that govern its business; developments in the secondary markets for the
Company’s mortgage loan products; legislative and regulatory changes
that impact the mortgage loan industry or housing market; changes in
regulations or the occurrence of other events that impact the business,
operations or prospects of government agencies such as the Government
National Mortgage Association, the Federal Housing Administration or the
Veterans Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or
government-sponsored entities such as the Federal National Mortgage
Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or such
changes that increase the cost of doing business with such entities; the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and its
implementing regulations and regulatory agencies, and any other
legislative and regulatory changes that impact the business, operations
or governance of mortgage lenders and/or publicly-traded companies; the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its issued and future rules and
the enforcement thereof; changes in government support of homeownership;
changes in government or government-sponsored home affordability
programs; limitations imposed on the Company’s business and its ability
to satisfy complex rules for it to qualify as a REIT for U.S. federal
income tax purposes and qualify for an exclusion from the Investment
Company Act of 1940 and the ability of certain of the Company’s
subsidiaries to qualify as REITs or as taxable REIT subsidiaries for
U.S. federal income tax purposes, as applicable, and the Company’s
ability and the ability of its subsidiaries to operate effectively
within the limitations imposed by these rules; changes in governmental
regulations, accounting treatment, tax rates and similar matters
(including changes to laws governing the taxation of REITs, or the
exclusions from registration as an investment company); the Company’s
ability to make distributions to its shareholders in the future; the
Company’s failure to deal appropriately with issues that may give rise
to reputational risk; and the Company’s organizational structure and
certain requirements in its charter documents. You should not place
undue reliance on any forward-looking statement and should consider all
of the uncertainties and risks described above, as well as those more
fully discussed in reports and other documents filed by the Company with
the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements or any other information contained herein,
and the statements made in this press release are current as of the date
of this release only.